Soya - a crop widely affected by GM
Following the news that GM oilseed rape contaminated with GM was growing on up to 600 farms in the UK Greenpeace contacted the Government on 25th May, advising them that any sale of this crop would be illegal under EU and UK law. If the Government failed to inform the company and the farmers of this illegality then Greenpeace would take court action.
Greenpeace demanded that the crops be destroyed and the affected farmers compensated. 3 days later the Government backed down agreeing that the crops could not be marketed within Europe. As a result Advanta have now advised farmers to destroy the crop and are negotiating a compensation package for farmers.
During May it also emerged that some conventional maize seed may also have been contaminated in a number of European countries. Disturbingly the biotech industry, via the European Seed Association, has spent the last few months developing a voluntary code with the seed industry throughout Europe to establish a threshold for 'acceptable' levels of GM contamination. In effect they want European governments to agree that 1% of all seeds can be 'acccidentally' GM and are now pressuring for EU legislation to this end.
This is an outrageous move by the industry. There is no acceptable level of GM contamination of seed. The fact that this contamination is happening at all shows exactly what Greenpeace has been saying throughout its campaign against Genetic Engineering - that GM pollution can neither be contained nor controlled. This is one of the many reasons why GM releases to the environment must be banned.
